progress of the war on the continent—lethargic condition of politics—battle of laufeldt—capture of bergen-op-zoom—disasters of the french on the sea and in italy—negotiations for peace—congress of aix-la-chapelle—conditions of peace—peace at home—commercial treaty with spain—death of the prince of wales—popular feeling against the bill for naturalising the jews—lord hardwicke's marriage act—foundation of the british museum—death of pelham—newcastle's difficulties—failure of robinson—approaching danger from america—a state of undeclared war—the battles of boscawen and braddock—george's anxiety for hanover—subsidiary treaties against prussia—pitt's opposition—debate in the house of commons—danger of england—french expedition against minorca—the failure of byng—newcastle resigns—attempts to form a ministry—devonshire succeeds—weakness of the ministry—coalition against prussia—alliance with england—commencement of the seven years' war—frederick conquers saxony—gloominess of affairs—court-martial on byng, and his death—dismissal of pitt—the pitt and newcastle coalition—failure of the attack on rochefort and of that on louisburg—convention of closter-seven—frederick's campaign; kolin, rosbach, and lissa—successes elsewhere—wolfe and clive—battle of plassey—capture of louisburg—ticonderoga and fort duquesne—attacks on st. malo and cherbourg—victory of crefeld—frederick's campaign—commencement of 1759; blockade of the french coast—pitt's plans for the conquest of canada—amherst's and prideaux's columns—wolfe before quebec—position of the city—wolfe fails to draw montcalm from his position—apparent hopelessness of the expedition—wolfe scales the heights of abraham—the battle—successes in india—battle of quiberon—frederick's fortunes—campaign of ferdinand of brunswick—battle of minden—glorious termination of the year—french descent on carrickfergus—attempt of the french to recover quebec—their expulsion from north america—frederick's fourth campaign—successes of ferdinand of brunswick—death of george ii.

the scottish rebellion had been an auspicious circumstance for the arms of france. marshal saxe had taken the field, to the surprise of the allies, in the very middle of winter, invested brussels, and compelled it to surrender on the 20th of february, 1746. one town fell after another; mons, antwerp, charleroi, and finally, namur capitulated on the 19th of september, after a siege of only six days. as soon as cumberland could leave scotland after the battle of culloden, he returned to london, in the hope that he should be appointed, covered, as he was, with his bloody laurels, to the supreme command of the allied forces in flanders, where he flattered himself he could arrest the progress of the french. but that command had been conferred on prince charles of lorraine, the emperor's brother, much to the disgust of both cumberland and the king. on the 11th of october the prince of lorraine engaged the french at raucoux, on the jaar, and was signally defeated; the english cavalry, under general ligonier, managing to save his army from total destruction, but not being able to stem the overthrow. at the close of the campaign the french remained almost entire masters of the austrian netherlands.

in italy, on the contrary, france sustained severe losses. the austrians, liberated from their prussian foe by the peace of dresden, threw strong forces into italy, and soon made themselves masters of milan, guastalla, parma, and piacenza. on the 17th of june they gave the united french and spaniards a heavy defeat near the last-named city, entered genoa in september, and made preparations to pursue them into provence.

philip v. of spain died on the 9th of july, and his son and successor, ferdinand vi., showed himself far less anxious for the establishment of don philip in italy—a circumstance unfavourable to france. on the contrary, he entered into separate negotiations with england. a congress was opened at breda, but the backwardness of prussia to support the views of england, and the successes of the french in the netherlands, caused the congress to prove abortive.

the year 1747 was opened by measures of restriction. the house of lords, offended at the publication of the proceedings of the trial of lord lovat, summoned the parties to their bar, committed them to prison, and refused to liberate them till they had pledged themselves not to repeat the offence, and had paid very heavy fees. the consequence of this was that the transactions of the peers were almost entirely suppressed for nearly thirty years from this time, and we draw our knowledge of them chiefly from notes taken by horace walpole and lord chancellor hardwicke. what is still more remarkable, the reports of the house of commons, being taken by stealth, and on the merest sufferance, are of the most meagre kind, sometimes altogether wanting, and the speeches are given uniformly under fictitious names; for to have attributed to pitt or pelham their[112] speeches by name would have brought down on the printers the summary vengeance of the house. many of the members complained bitterly of this breach of the privileges of parliament, and of "being put into print by low fellows"; but pelham had the sense to tolerate them, saying, "let them alone; they make better speeches for us than we can make for ourselves." altogether, the house of commons exhibited the most deplorable aspect that can be conceived. the ministry had pursued walpole's system of buying up opponents by place, or pension, or secret service money, till there was no life left in the house. ministers passed their measures without troubling themselves to say much in their behalf; and the opposition dwindled to sir john hinde cotton, now dismissed from office, and a feeble remnant of jacobites raised but miserable resistance. in vain the prince of wales and the secret instigations of bolingbroke and doddington stimulated the spirit of discontent; both houses had degenerated into most silent and insignificant arenas of very commonplace business.

the campaign in flanders commenced with the highest expectation on the part of england. cumberland had now obtained the great object of his ambition—the command of the allied army; and the conqueror of culloden was confidently expected to show himself the conqueror of marshal saxe and of france. but cumberland, who was no match for marshal saxe, found the dutch and austrians, as usual, vastly deficient in their stipulated quotas. the french, hoping to intimidate the sluggish and wavering dutch, threatened to send twenty thousand men into dutch flanders, if the states did not choose to negotiate for a separate peace. the menace, however, had the effect of rousing holland to some degree of action. when the vanguard of saxe's army, under count l?wendahl, burst into dutch flanders, and reduced the frontier forts of sluys, sas-van-ghent, and hulst, the dutch rose against their dastardly governors, and once more placed a prince of the house of nassau in the stadtholdership. william of nassau, who had married anne, daughter of george ii. of england, was, unfortunately, not only nominated stadtholder, but captain-general and lord high admiral; and, being equally desirous of martial glory with his brother-in-law, the duke of cumberland, he headed the dutch army, and immediately began to contend with cumberland for dictation as to the movements of the army. in these disastrous circumstances, the allies came to blows with the french at the village of laufeldt, before maestricht. the dutch in the centre gave way and fled; the austrians on the right, under marshal batthyani, would not advance out of their fortified position; the brunt of the whole onset, therefore, fell upon the english. cumberland found himself engaged with the whole french army, directed by the masterly mind of saxe, and animated by the presence of louis himself. the dispositions of cumberland were bad, but the bravery of the british troops was never more remarkable. though it was impossible for them to prevail against such overwhelming numbers, they did not retreat before they had, according to saxe's own acknowledgment, killed or wounded nine thousand of the french.

saxe followed up his advantage by despatching l?wendahl against bergen-op-zoom, the key of holland, and the masterpiece of the celebrated engineer, cohorn. this was not only amazingly strong in its fortifications, but had a powerful garrison, and was covered by an entrenched camp of twelve thousand men. the trenches were opened in the middle of july, and might have defied all the efforts of the french, had not baron cronstrom, the commander, a man of eighty, suffered them to take it by surprise on the 15th of september. the french had led a vast number of men before this place, and its surrender ended the campaign.

most unexpectedly, however, the french were as desirous of peace as the allies ought to have been. at sea and in italy they had not been so successful as in flanders. admiral anson had defeated them off cape finisterre, and taken six ships of the line, several frigates, and a great part of a numerous convoy; admiral hawke, off belleisle, had taken six other ships of the line; and commodore fox took forty french merchantmen, richly laden, on their way from the west indies. in fact, in all quarters of the world our fleet had the advantage, and had made such havoc with the french commerce as reduced the mercantile community to great distress.

in italy the french had been as unfortunate as they had been fortunate in flanders. in november of 1746 the austrians and sardinians, assisted by a british fleet, had entered provence and bombarded antibes. they were recalled, however, by the news that the genoese had revolted, and thrown off the austrian yoke. in their retreat they were harassed by marshal de belleisle, laid siege to genoa in vain, and began to quarrel amongst themselves. the french, to complete their own[113] discomfiture, marched another army into italy under the brother of belleisle; but they were stopped in the pass of exilles, and defeated, with the loss of four thousand men and of their commander, the chevalier de belleisle.

flora macdonald. (after the portrait by j. markluin, 1747.)

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there was grave discontent and suffering in france, and marshal saxe, through general ligonier, made proposals for peace. the news of these overtures gave great delight in england, but the king and cumberland were bent on continuing the war. pelham and chesterfield advocated acceptance of the terms, but newcastle sided with the king, to gain favour with him. as the terms, however, could not with decency be bluntly rejected, cumberland solicited and obtained the post of negotiator in the matter for england; but the ministers, desirous of peace, foreseeing that the wishes or the hasty temper of cumberland would[114] soon ruin every chance of accomplishing a treaty, the earl of sandwich was sent over to act as assistant to the duke; this meant that he was to overrule, if possible, the mischief cumberland would be sure to make. sandwich accordingly hastened over to holland, and had a secret interview with the marquis de puisieulx, the french minister for foreign affairs, and, after much dodging on the part of the marquis, he managed to have the discussion removed from military negotiators to a congress at aix-la-chapelle.

the congress had opened at aix-la-chapelle early in the spring, but it did not begin its sittings till the 11th of march, 1748, sandwich being sent thither as our plenipotentiary. the campaign, however, opened simultaneously, and, could cumberland and the king have managed it, war would soon have overturned the hopes of peace; but circumstances were too much for them. the prince of nassau, ambitious as he was of military renown, failed to bring into the field his dutch levies; the thirty thousand prussians, as pelham had expected, did not appear. the dutch, so far from furnishing the sums they had engaged for, sent to london to raise the loan of a million sterling; but london itself had ceased to be a money-lending place. the war had drained the resources even of the british capital. to complete the deadlock, marshal saxe advanced into the field, and showed to the world that, though cumberland might beat an army of famine-exhausted highlanders, he was no match for him. he completely out-generalled him, made false demonstrations against breda, where the allied army lay, and then suddenly concentrated his forces before maestricht, which, it was evident, must soon fall into his hands. maestricht secured, the highway into holland was open.

the king and his war cabinet were now compelled to sue to france for the peace which was so freely offered the year before. newcastle wrote to sandwich in april, that the impossibility of arresting the progress of the french army, the discordant pretensions of the allies, and their gross neglect of their engagements, rendered it absolutely necessary to make peace. sandwich was to communicate this necessity to the plenipotentiaries of the allies, and if they declined to assent to it, to sign the preliminaries without them. the ministers of the allies still refused to join; it suited them very well to receive vast subsidies to fight their own battles, and yet to leave england to fight them. on the other hand, count st. severin, the plenipotentiary of france, now felt his vantage-ground, and offered far worse terms than before, and, to force their acceptance, threatened that if they were not agreed to without delay, the french would leave the fortifications of ypres, namur, and bergen-op-zoom, and march directly into holland. the treaty was signed by england, france, and holland on the 18th of april. the general conditions were a mutual restoration of conquests. all the nations were placed very much in statu quo, except that prussia had got silesia, and sardinia had lost placentia and finale. as for england, she firmly established her maritime supremacy, which from that date has remained unchallenged. the young pretender was compelled to leave france, and thenceforward ceased to be of any political importance.

from the peace of aix-la-chapelle for several years little of striking interest occurred in the affairs of britain. the public at first was rejoiced at the return of peace; but the more it looked into the results of so costly a war the more dissatisfied it grew, and the complaints were loud and general that ministers had sacrificed the honour and interests of the nation. the opposition, however, was at so low an ebb, that little was heard of the public discontent in parliament; and pitt, formerly so vociferous to denounce the war, now as boldly vindicated both it and the peace, and silenced all criticisms by his overmastering eloquence. the government still went on granting subsidies to the german princes, though the war was at an end.

during the year 1750 the french evinced a hostile disposition. they laid claim to part of nova scotia, and refused to surrender the islands of st. lucia and st. vincent, as they were bound to do by the treaty of aix-la-chapelle. they continued to stir up bad feeling towards us both in spain and germany. the empress listened with eagerness to the suggestions of france, and co-operated with that country in endeavouring to influence spain against us. fortunately, the good disposition of the queen of spain, and the able management of mr. keene, our ambassador, foiled all these efforts, and completed a commercial treaty with that country. this treaty was signed on the 5th of october, 1750, and placed us at once on the same footing in commercial relations with spain as the most favoured nations. we abandoned the remaining term of the assiento, and obtained one hundred thousand pounds as compensation for the claims of the south sea company. the right of search, however, was passed over in silence, and we continued to cut logwood[115] in campeachy bay and to smuggle on the spanish main, winked at by the spanish authorities, but liable to interruption whenever jealousy or ill-will might be in the ascendant. in various directions our commerce flourished at this time, and many injurious restrictions were removed, such as those that hampered the whale fishery of spitzbergen, the white herring and coast fisheries, the trade to the coast of guinea, the import of iron from the american plantations and of raw silk from china. our manufactures also grew apace, in spite of the internal jarrings of the ministry and the deadness of parliament.

while affairs were in this state, the prince of wales died (march 20, 1751). he had been in indifferent health for some time, and had injured his constitution by dissipated habits. he was forty-four years of age, of a weak character, which had led him into excesses, and the consequences of these were made worse by great neglect of his health. the same weakness of character had made him very much the tool of political faction, and placed him in an unnatural opposition to his father. an attempt was made by lord egmont to keep together the prince's party. he assembled a meeting of the opposition at his house on the morning of the prince's death, and hinted at taking the princess and her family under their protection; and he recommended harmony among themselves; but some one said, "very likely, indeed, that there should be harmony, when the prince could never bring it about;" and so every one hastened away to look after themselves. it was no sooner seen that there was an understanding between the princess of wales and the king than numbers of the late prince's friends offered their adhesion to the pelhams, equally out of dread of the duke of cumberland and dislike of the duke of bedford, who was opposed to the pelhams, and, it was feared, likely to support cumberland, and thus place him at the head of affairs.

the session of 1753 was distinguished by two remarkable acts of parliament. the one was for the naturalisation of the jews, the other for the prevention of clandestine marriages. the jew bill was introduced into the lords, and passed it with singular ease, scarcely exciting an objection from the whole bench of bishops; lord lyttelton declaring that "he who hated another man for not being a christian was not a christian himself." but in the commons it raised a fierce debate. on the 7th of may, on the second reading, it was assailed by loud assertions that to admit the jews to such privileges was to dishonour the christian faith; that it would deluge the kingdom with usurers, brokers, and beggars; that the jews would buy up the advowsons, and thus destroy the church; that it was flying directly in the face of god and of prophecy, which had declared the jews should be scattered over the face of the earth, without any country or fixed abode. pelham ridiculed the fears about the church, showing that, by their own rigid tenets, the jews could neither enter our church nor marry our women, and could therefore never touch our religion, nor amalgamate with us as a people; that as to civil offices, unless they took the sacrament, they could not be even excisemen or custom-house officers. the bill passed by a majority of ninety-five to sixteen; but the storm was only wafted from the parliament to the public. out-of-doors the members of parliament, and especially the bishops, were pursued with the fiercest rancour and insult. members of the commons were threatened by their constituents with the loss of their seats for voting in favour of this bill; and one of them, mr. sydenham, of exeter, defended himself by declaring that he was no jew, but travelled on the sabbath like a christian. the populace pursued the members and the bishops in the streets, crying, "no jews! no jews! no wooden shoes!" in short, such was the popular fury, that the duke of newcastle was glad to bring in a bill for the repeal of his act of naturalisation on the very first day of the next session, which passed rapidly through both houses.

it was high time that some measures were taken for preventing clandestine marriages. nothing could be so loose as the marriage laws, or so scandalous as the practice regarding marriages at this date. no previous public notice or publication of banns was hitherto required, nor was any license requisite. any clergyman, though of the most infamous character, could perform the ceremony at any time or place, without consent of parents or guardians. the consequence was, that the strangest and most scandalous unions took place, for which there was no remedy, and the results of which were lives of misery and disgrace. the merest children were inveigled into such connections, and the heirs of noble estates were thus entrapped into the most repulsive alliances, and made the victims of the most rapacious and unprincipled of mankind. the fleet prison, where were many ruined parsons—ruined by their crimes and low habits—was a grand mart for such marriages. a fellow of the name of keith had[116] acquired great pre-eminence in this line. he used to marry, on an average, six thousand couples every year; and on the news of this bill, which would stop his trade, he vowed vengeance on the bishops, declaring that he would buy a piece of ground and out-bury them all!

the bill was prepared by the judges, and afterwards remodelled and conducted through the lords by lord chancellor hardwicke. it provided that banns should be published for every marriage in the parish church for three successive sundays; that no license to waive these banns should be granted to any minor without consent of the parent or guardian; and that special licenses, empowering the marriage to be celebrated at any time or place, should only be granted by the archbishop, and for a heavy sum. the bill was opposed in the lords by the duke of bedford, and in the commons by henry fox, mr. nugent, mr. charles townshend, and others. it was declared to be a scheme for keeping together the wealth of the country in the hands of a few grasping and ambitious families. townshend denounced it as intended to shut younger sons out of all chance of raising themselves by marriage. henry fox had benefited especially by the looseness of the old marriage law, for he had run away with lady caroline lennox, the eldest daughter of the duke of richmond. he was especially severe on lord hardwicke, accusing him of seeking by the bill to throw more power into the hands of the lord chancellor, and hardwicke retorted with still greater acrimony. the bill passed, and there was a strong inclination to extend its operation to scotland, but the scottish lawyers and representative peers defeated this attempt.

another measure in this session marks an epoch in the history of literature and science in great britain. parliament empowered the crown to raise money by lottery for the purchase of the fine library, consisting of fifty thousand volumes, and the collection of articles of vertu and antiquity, amounting to sixty-nine thousand three hundred and fifty-two in number, bequeathed by sir hans sloane to the nation on the condition that twenty thousand pounds should be paid to his daughters for what had cost himself fifty thousand pounds. the same bill also empowered government to purchase of the duchess of portland, for ten thousand pounds, the collection of mss. and books, etc., made by her grandfather, harley, the lord treasurer oxford, and also for the purchase of montagu house, which was offered for sale in consequence of the death of the duke of montagu without heirs, in which to deposit these valuable collections. the antiquarian and literary collections of sir robert cotton, purchased in the reign of queen anne, were also removed to montagu house; and thus was founded the now magnificent institution, the british museum. it is remarkable that whilst horace walpole, professing himself a patron of letters, has recorded all the gossip of his times, he has not deemed this great literary, scientific, and artistic event worthy of the slightest mention.

the course of business was suddenly interrupted by the unexpected death of pelham, the prime minister, in 1754. pelham was but sixty years of age, of a florid and apparently healthy appearance, but at once indolent and too fond of the table. he had been compelled to seek sea-bathing at scarborough, and on the 7th of january wrote to his brother, the duke of newcastle, saying that he never was better; but on the 3rd of march he was taken ill, and on the 6th was a corpse. the king was startled at his death, for his moderation and quiet management had long held together very jarring elements in the ministry. "now i shall have no more peace!" exclaimed george, on hearing the news of his decease, and he was only too correct in his prognostic. pelham was a respectable rather than a great minister. his abilities were by no means shining, but experience had made him a good man of business. waldegrave gave him credit for being "a frugal steward of the public, averse to continental extravagances and useless subsidies;" and yet never were more of each perpetrated than during his administration. he had the merit, which he had acquired in the school of walpole, of preferring peace to war; and horace walpole admits that "he lived without abusing his power, and died poor."

newcastle, a man older than his brother pelham, and of inferior abilities, instead of strengthening himself by the promotion of pitt and henry fox, was only anxious to grasp all the power of the cabinet, and retain these far abler men as his obedient subordinates. he at once got himself placed at the head of the treasury, and selected as chancellor of the exchequer henry legge, a son of the earl of dartmouth, a quiet but ordinary man of business, by no means fitted to take the leadership of the house of commons. the three men calculated for that post were pitt, fox, and murray; but pitt was still extremely disliked by the king, who did not forget his many years' thunderings against hanoverian measures, and both george and newcastle were no little[117] afraid of his towering ambition. henry fox was a man of amiable character in private life, but in politics an adventurer.

wedding in the fleet. (from a print of the eighteenth century.)

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murray, afterwards lord mansfield, as we have said, of a decided jacobite house, was a rising young lawyer, who had won great fame for his speech in a case of appeal before the house of lords, was now solicitor-general—accomplished and learned in the law, a man of pleasing person, and a fine orator, bold, persevering in his profession, yet, with all the caution of a scotsman, plodding his way towards the bench—the real and almost the only object of his ambition. murray, indeed, let newcastle know that such was his ambition; and therefore, as pitt was passed over from the royal dislike and newcastle's own jealousy, and murray, too, for this reason, henry fox alone was the man for the leadership of the commons. newcastle told him that he proposed him for that post; but when they met, fox soon found that he was expected to play the r?le without the essential power. fox, of course, demanded to be informed of the disposal of the secret-service money, but newcastle replied that his brother never disclosed that to any one, nor would he. fox reminded him that pelham was at once first lord of the treasury and leader of the commons, and asked how he was to "talk to members when he did not know who was in pay and who was not?" and next he wished to know who was to have the nomination to places? newcastle replied, himself. who was to recommend the proper objects?—still himself. who to fill up the ministerial boroughs at the coming elections?—still newcastle himself. fox withdrew in disgust, and newcastle gave the seals of the secretaryship to a mere tool—sir thomas robinson, a dull, uncouth man, who had been some years ambassador at vienna, and had won the favour of the king by his compliance with all his german desires. robinson, according to lord waldegrave, was ignorant even of the language of the house of commons, and when he attempted to play the orator, threw the members into fits of merriment. newcastle, says lord stanhope, had succeeded in a very difficult attempt—he[118] "had found a secretary of state with abilities inferior to his own."

as to the other changes in the ministry, sir dudley ryder being advanced to the bench, murray succeeded him as attorney-general. lord chancellor hardwicke was made an earl; sir george lyttelton and george grenville, friends of pitt, had places—one as treasurer of the navy, the other as cofferer. pitt himself, who was suffering from his great enemy, the gout, at bath, was passed over. no sooner did he meet with fox in the house of commons, than he said aloud, "sir thomas robinson lead us! newcastle might as well send his jack-boot to lead us!" no sooner did the unfortunate sir thomas open his mouth, than pitt fell with crushing sarcasm upon him; and fox completed his confusion by pretending to excuse him on account of his twenty years' absence abroad, and his consequent utter ignorance of all matters before the house. soon after, pitt made a most overwhelming speech, on the occasion of a petition against the return of a government candidate by bribery, and called on whigs of all sections to come forward and defend the liberties of the country, unless, he said, "you will degenerate into a little assembly, serving no other purpose than to register the arbitrary edicts of one too powerful subject!" this was a blow at newcastle, which, coming from a colleague in office, made both him and his puppets in the commons, legge and robinson, tremble. newcastle saw clearly that he must soon dismount robinson from his dangerous altitude, and give the place to fox.

the new parliament reassembled on the 14th of november, and the king in his speech, whilst pretending the differences which had arisen between us, france, and spain were by no means serious, yet called for enlarged supplies to defend our american territories against the designs of these powers. in fact, matters were becoming very serious in our american colonies; but the government withheld the real facts from the knowledge of the public, and it was not till the opening of parliament, in march, 1755, that they candidly avowed that war was inevitable. the french and english were actually engaged in war both in the east indies and in america. in the east indies there was just now an apparent pause in hostilities, through an agreement between the two companies; but in north america matters daily grew worse. there were, and had been ever since the peace, violent disputes as to the boundary-lines both of nova scotia—or, as the french styled it, acadia—and between canada and our colony of new england. the french, becoming more and more daring, commenced the erection of forts in the valley of the ohio, to connect the settlements on the st. lawrence with those on the mississippi. they had already erected one called duquesne, greatly to the indignation of the inhabitants of pennsylvania and virginia. in nova scotia, major lawrence, with one thousand men, defeated the french and their indian allies; but, on the other hand, the french surprised and sacked block's town, on the ohio, belonging to the virginians, who sent forward major george washington to attack fort duquesne. washington, destined to acquire the greatest name in the new world, marched with four hundred men, but was surprised at a place called great meadows, and was glad to capitulate on condition of retiring with military honours (1754).

at this crisis, when an able diplomatist at paris might have avoided a great war, the earl of albemarle, who never had been an able or attentive ambassador, but a mere man of pleasure, died; and though george ii. was so well aware of the gathering storm that he sent a message to the house of commons announcing the necessity for increased forces, and, consequently, increased supplies, nothing could induce him to forego his usual summer journey to hanover. the commons readily voted a million and a half, but made an energetic protest against the king quitting the country in the circumstances. besides the state of affairs in france and spain, those of ireland were very disturbed. the duke of dorset, the lord-lieutenant, was recalled, and lord harrington sent in his place to endeavour to restore order. lord poulett, therefore, moved a resolution against george's journey; but it was overruled, and the infatuated king set out in april, attended by lord holderness.

the day before george embarked, admiral boscawen set sail, with eleven ships of the line and two regiments of soldiers, to intercept the french fleet, which had sailed from rochefort and brest to carry reinforcements to the canadians. boscawen was to attack and destroy the french, if possible. boscawen came up with the french fleet on the banks of newfoundland, but a thick fog hid them from each other. captain howe, afterwards lord howe, and captain andrews, however, descried and captured two of the french men-of-war, containing eight thousand pounds in money, and many officers and engineers; but the rest of the fleet, under admiral bois de la motte,[119] warned by the firing, got safe into the harbour of louisburg.

on the arrival of this news the french court complained bitterly of the violation of the peace, to which the court of st. james's replied that the french had too prominently set the example, and the ambassadors on both sides were recalled—an equivalent to a declaration of war, though none on either side yet followed. we had soon a severe reverse instead of a victory to record. general braddock had been despatched against fort duquesne, and had reached great meadows, the scene of washington's defeat in the preceding summer. braddock was a general of the hawley school—brave enough, but, like him, brutal and careless. his soldiers hated him for his severity. the indians resented so much the haughtiness with which he treated them, that they had most of them deserted him; and, as was the fatal habit of english commanders then and long afterwards, he had the utmost contempt for what were called "provincials" (that is, colonists), supposing that all sense and knowledge existed in england, and that the english, just arrived, knew more about america than natives who had spent their lives in it. he therefore marched on into the woods, utterly despising all warnings against the indians in alliance with the french. at great meadows he found it necessary, from the nature of the woods and the want of roads, to leave behind him all his heavy baggage, and part of his troops to guard it, and he proceeded with only one thousand two hundred men and ten pieces of artillery. on the 9th of july, 1755, having arrived within ten miles of fort duqnesne, he still neglected to send out scouts, and thus rashly entering the mouth of a deep woody defile, he found himself assaulted by a murderous fire in front and on both flanks. his enemies were indians assisted by a few french, who, accustomed to that mode of fighting, aimed from the thickets and behind trees, and picked off his officers, whom they recognised by their dress, without themselves being visible. without attempting to draw out of the ambush, and advance with proper precautions, braddock rushed deeper into it, and displayed a desperate but useless courage. now was the time for his indians to have encountered his enemies in their own mode of battle, had his pride not driven them away. after having three horses killed under him, in the vain endeavour to come at his foes, he was shot, and his troops retreated in all haste, leaving behind them their artillery and seven hundred of their comrades on the ground. their retreat was protected by the "provincial" george washington—whose advice had been unheeded—or the slaughter would have been greater.

the news of braddock's defeat, reaching london whilst the king was still absent, caused a great panic and want of decision. sir edward hawke had been despatched with a fleet of eighteen sail in july to intercept the return of the french fleet from canada, but, hampered by contradictory orders, he only took prizes; and now admiral byng, in october, was sent out with twenty-six more, but both failed in their object. our privateer cruisers had done more execution in the west indies. they had nearly annihilated the trade of the french in those islands, and, according to smollett, captured, before the end of the year, three hundred french vessels, and brought into the english ports eight thousand french seamen.

as the french now made vigorous preparations for war, george ii. began to tremble for hanover, and put out all his energies to accomplish fresh alliances—of course, at the cost of fresh subsidies to be paid by england. hesse-cassel, the empress of russia, and even his old enemy, frederick of prussia, were applied to, and engaged, by promises of english money, in defence of hanover. george was especially afraid of frederick, who was bound by no ties where his interest was at stake, and who, if not retained at a high rate, might fall on hanover as he had done on silesia. in gaining frederick, however, george lost his old ally, austria, which, forgetting all past obligations, immediately made alliance with france.

when the subsidy to hesse-cassel was sent home to receive the signatures of the cabinet, it was found to amount to an annual payment by england of one hundred and fifty thousand crowns, besides eighty crowns to every horseman, and thirty crowns to every foot soldier, when they were really called out to service. that to russia was immensely greater; then came in prospective that to saxony, to bavaria, etc. these latter states had been fed all through the last few years for doing nothing, and now demanded vastly higher terms. yet when the hessian treaty was laid on the council table by the compliant newcastle, ministers signed it without reading it. pitt and fox, however, protested against it; and when the treasury warrants for carrying the treaty into execution were sent down to legge, the chancellor of the exchequer, he refused to sign them.

this was a thunderstroke to newcastle—legge,[120] who had been so pliant, thus to rebel. newcastle, in his consternation, hastened to pitt, imploring him to use his influence with legge, and promising him the seals as secretary, engaging to remove all prejudice from the king's mind. but not only pitt, but the public, had been long asking whether, in these critical times, everything was to be sacrificed for the sake of this old grasping jobber at the treasury? whether newcastle was to endanger the whole nation by keeping out of office all men of talent? pitt stood firm: no offers, no temptations, could move him. newcastle, finding pitt unmanageable, flew to fox, who accepted the seals on condition of having proper powers conceded to him, and agreed to support the treaties, against which he had been equally as violent as pitt, having just before said to dodington, "i am surprised you are not against all subsidies." robinson was consoled with a pension of two thousand pounds a year and the post of master of the wardrobe. the king had returned from hanover, and fox was not to receive the seals till two days after the meeting of parliament, so that he might keep his place and support the address. by his accession to office he changed the violence of the opposition of the duke of bedford, and brought the support of the russells to the ministry. this strength, however, did not prevent the certainty of a breakup of the cabinet. pitt was now arrayed against his former colleagues.

whilst things were in this position, parliament met on the 13th of november. the great question on which the fate of the ministry depended was that of the subsidies to hesse and russia. it was something new to see not merely an ordinary opposition, but the chancellor of the exchequer and the paymaster of the forces—legge and pitt—ranging themselves against the king and their colleagues on this question. in the house of lords the address in reply to the royal speech, which implied approbation of these subsidies, was supported by newcastle, hardwicke, and the duke of bedford, who hitherto, since quitting office, had opposed everything, and was opposed by lords temple and halifax. but the great struggle was in the commons. the debate began at two in the afternoon, and continued till five the next morning—the longest hitherto recorded, except the one on the westminster election in 1741. on this occasion william gerard hamilton made his first and almost last speech, which acquired him promotion in the government of ireland, and the cognomen of "single-speech hamilton." murray spoke splendidly in defence of the subsidies; but pitt, rising at one o'clock in the morning, after sitting eleven hours in that heated atmosphere, burst out upon the whole system of german subsidies with a tempest of eloquence which held the house in astonished awe. he denounced the whole practice of feeing the little german potentates as monstrous, useless, absurd, and desperate: an eternal drain on england for no single atom of benefit. he compared the union of newcastle and fox to the union of the rh?ne and sa?ne—a boisterous and impetuous torrent, with a shallow, languid, and muddy stream. but though pitt's eloquence dismayed and confounded ministers, it could not prevent their majority. the address was carried by three hundred and eleven votes against one hundred and five; and it was now clear that pitt must quit the cabinet. in fact, in a very few days, not only he, but legge and george grenville, were summarily dismissed, and james grenville, the other brother, resigned his seat at the board of trade.

the year 1756 opened with menaces to england of the most serious nature. the imbecility of the ministry was beginning to tell in the neglect of its colonies and its defences. france threatened to invade us, and a navy of fifty thousand men was suddenly voted, and an army of thirty-four thousand two hundred and sixty-three of native troops; but as these were not ready, it was agreed to bring over eight thousand hessians and hanoverians. to pay for all this it was necessary to grant excessive supplies, and lay on new duties and taxes. in presenting the money bills in the month of may, speaker onslow could not avoid remarking that there were two circumstances which tended to create alarm—foreign subsidies and foreign troops introduced, and nothing but their confidence in his majesty could allay their fears, or give them confidence that their burdens would be soon reduced. there was, in fact, no chance for any such reduction, for wars, troubles, and disgraces were gathering around from various quarters. the first reverse came from the mediterranean.

[121]

defeat of general braddock in the indian ambush. (see p. 119.)

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[122]

the french had always beheld with jealousy our possession of the island of minorca, which had been won by general stanhope in 1708, and secured to us by the peace of utrecht. that england should possess the finest port in the mediterranean, and that so near their own shores, was a subject of unceasing chagrin. the miserable administration of british affairs, the constant attention to the interests of hanover instead of our own, now inspired france with the resolve to snatch the prize from us. great preparations were made for this object, and the report of these as duly conveyed to the english ministers by the consuls in both spain and italy, but in vain. at length the certainty that the french were about to sail for minorca burst on the miserable ministers; but it was too late—they had nothing in readiness. the port of mahon was almost destitute of a garrison; the governor, lord tyrawley, was in england; and the deputy-governor, general blakeney, though brave, as he had shown himself at the siege of stirling, was old, nearly disabled by his infirmities, and deficient in troops. what was still worse, all the colonels were absent from the regiments stationed there, and other officers also—altogether thirty-five!

the alarmed ministers now mustered what ships they could, and despatched admiral byng with them from spithead on the 7th of april. the whole of these ships amounted only to ten, in a half rotten condition and badly manned; and they commenced their voyage only three days before the french armament issued from toulon, the english having to cross the bay of biscay, and traverse two hundred leagues of the mediterranean, whilst the french had only seventy leagues to travel altogether. the french armament consisted of twelve ships of the line, and numerous transports, under admiral la galissonière, consisting of sixteen thousand men, under the command of the duke de richelieu. general blakeney received news of the approach of this fleet by means of a fast-sailing sloop, and began in all activity to prepare for his defence. he collected his forces into the castle of st. philip, commanding the town and harbour of mahon, calling in five companies from ciudadela. all his troops, however, amounted only to two thousand eight hundred. he had large quantities of cattle driven into the fort, flour and bakers were got in, the ports blocked up, and he sank a sloop in the channel to obstruct the entrance to the harbour. the french fleet appeared off port ciudadela on the 18th of april, but byng did not come in sight till the 19th of may—a month after—and then he came disappointed and dispirited. there was a mutual attempt made by byng and by blakeney to effect communication, but it does not appear to have been of a determined character, and it failed. la galissonière was now bearing down on byng, and the next day, the 20th of may, the two fleets confronted each other. byng, about two o'clock, gave the signal to rear-admiral west to engage, which west did with such impetuosity, that he drove several of the french ships out of line. but byng himself did not follow the example of west; he hung back, and thereby prevented west from following up his advantage. it was in vain that byng's own captain urged him to advance; he pretended that it could not be done without throwing his ships out of regular line; and he kept at such a distance that his vessel, a noble ship carrying ninety guns, never was fairly in action at all, and had not a single man killed or wounded. thus deserted, west was compelled to fall back; and la galissonière, who showed no disposition to continue the fight, sailed away. byng retired to gibraltar.

at the sight of byng sailing away, the french fired a feu de joie from all their lines, and blakeney knew that he was left to his fate. he determined still to defend the place, but richelieu sent in haste to toulon for fresh reinforcements. the fort was soon surrounded by twenty thousand men, with eighty-five pieces of artillery. in about a week richelieu carried one of the breaches by storm, though with great loss, and blakeney capitulated on condition that the english should march out with all the honours of war, and should be conveyed in the french ships to gibraltar. thus was minorca lost to england through the shameful neglect of a miserably incompetent ministry and a faint-hearted admiral.

the tidings of this disaster roused the people of england to a pitch of desperation. the ministers were condemned for their gross neglect and imbecile procrastination, and byng was execrated as a coward and a traitor. meanwhile, the most culpable man of all, newcastle, was trembling with terror, and endeavouring to find a scapegoat somewhere. fox was equally trembling, lest newcastle should make that scapegoat of him. he declared to dodington that he had urged newcastle to send succour to minorca as early as christmas, and that cumberland had joined him in urging this, to no purpose. he asserted that newcastle ought to answer for it. "yes," replied dodington, "unless he can find some one to make a scapegoat of." this was the very fear that was haunting fox, and he hastened, in october, to the king, and resigned the seals. this was a severe blow to newcastle, and he immediately thought of murray to succeed him; but, unfortunately, sir dudley ryder, the lord chief justice, just then having died, murray had fixed his ambition on occupying his seat on the bench. they were obliged to give it to him, with the title[123] of mansfield, or make a mortal enemy of him. newcastle then thought of conciliating pitt. pitt refused to belong to any ministry at all in which newcastle remained. newcastle, in his perplexity, next tried lord egmont, and even old granville, but both declined the honour; and not a man being to be found who would serve under him, he was compelled most reluctantly to resign. he had certainly presided over the destinies of the nation far too long.

the king now thought of placing fox at the head of a new administration; but when fox asked pitt to join, he refused, and the king was obliged to send for pitt, much as he hated him. pitt replied that he was laid up with the gout—a complaint which troubled him, but which he frequently found it convenient to assume. george then prevailed upon the duke of devonshire, a man of no commanding ability, and averse from office, but of the highest integrity of character, to accept the post of first lord of the treasury, and to form a cabinet. though the friend of fox, he felt that statesman to be too unpopular for a colleague, and offered pitt the seals of secretary of state, which he accepted; legge was re-appointed chancellor of the exchequer; pitt's brother-in-law, lord temple, first lord of the admiralty; temple's brother, george grenville, treasurer of the navy; another brother, james grenville, again was seated at the treasury board; lord holderness was the second secretary of state, to oblige the king; willes, chief justice of the common pleas; the duke of bedford was made lord-lieutenant of ireland, it was said by fox's suggestion, as a thorn in the flesh to pitt, and, as horace walpole sarcastically remarked, pitt had not grenville cousins enough to fill the whole administration; charles townshend was made treasurer of the chamber, though his talents and eloquence, in which he excited pitt's jealousy, deserved a much higher office.

the ministry being complete, parliament met on the 2nd of december. it was found that the new administration had not that influence in the boroughs that newcastle, who had cultivated it, had; and several members of the cabinet, pitt amongst them, had difficulty in getting returned, as was the case with charles townshend. in the king's speech, his majesty was made to speak of the militia, which he was known by everybody to hold in sovereign contempt, as the best and most constitutional means of national defence. he announced also that he had ordered the return of the hanoverian troops to their own country; and the duke of devonshire inserted in the address from the lords an expression of thanks for having brought these troops over. pitt had declared that he would quit the cabinet if such a vote was passed, and temple came hurrying down to the house—pitt being absent from the commons with the gout—and declared that he had quitted a sick bed to protest against it. this was an unlucky beginning. it was clear that there was want of unity in the cabinet at its very birth, and out-of-doors the people were loudly complaining of the scarcity of food, and bread riots were frequent. the king himself could not help ridiculing the speech his new ministers had composed for him; and a poor printer being arrested for putting another speech into his mouth, george said he hoped the man might receive very lenient punishment, for, as far as he could understand either of the speeches, he thought the printer's the best. to abate the ferment out-of-doors, the commons passed two bills: one prohibiting the export of grain, flour, or biscuit; the other prohibiting, for several months, distillation from wheat or barley.

but though pitt protested against thanking the king for bringing over hanoverian troops, he found it necessary to support the king's german treaties and alliances, which were avowedly for the defence of hanover. fox reminded him of his favourite phrase, that hanover was a millstone round the neck of england; but it was not the first time that pitt had had to stand the taunt of eating his own words, and he braved it out, especially voting two hundred thousand pounds to frederick of prussia. a wonderful revolution in continental politics had now converted this long-hostile nephew of george ii. into an ally, if not a friend.

the empress maria theresa, never reconciling herself to the seizure of silesia by frederick, and not finding england disposed to renew a war for the object of recovering it, applied to her old enemy, france. it required some ability to accomplish this object of detaching france from its ancient policy of hostility to austria, pursued ever since the days of henry iv., and in severing the alliance with prussia; but her minister, kaunitz, who had been her ambassador in paris, contrived to effect it. the temptation was thrown out of the surrender of belgic provinces to augment france, in return for assistance in recovering german possessions from prussia. to add fresh stimulus to this change, the vengeance of offended woman was brought into play. madame pompadour, louis xv.'s all-powerful mistress, had sent[124] flattering compliments to frederick by voltaire; but the prussian king only repaid them with sneers. on the other hand, the virtuous maria theresa did not blush to write, with her own hand, the most flattering epistles to the pompadour. by these means, the thirst of revenge raised in the heart of the french mistress worked successfully the breach with prussia and the alliance with austria. the same stimulus was tried, and with equal effect, on the czarina elizabeth, on whose amorous licence the cynical prussian monarch had been equally jocose. kaunitz knew how to make the sting of these ungallant sallies felt at both paris and st. petersburg, and the winter of 1755-6 saw the russian alliance with prussia and england renounced, the english subsidy, with far more than german probity, renounced too, and russia pledged to support austria and france. the elector of saxony, augustus, king of poland, who amused himself with low pot-house companions and tame bears, and left his affairs to his minister, count brühl, was also induced, by the promise of prussian territory, to join the league; and even sweden, whose queen, ulrica, was sister to frederick, was drawn over to take side against him, in the hope of recovering its ancient province of pomerania. this confederation of ninety millions of people, leagued against five millions, was pronounced by pitt "one of the most powerful and malignant ones that ever yet threatened the independence of mankind."

the confederates endeavoured to keep their plans profoundly secret till they were ready to burst at once on the devoted king of prussia; but frederick was the last man alive to be taken by surprise. the secret was soon betrayed to him, and, at once waiving his dislike of the king of england, he concluded a convention with him in january, 1756, and bound himself, during the disturbances in america, not to allow any foreign troops to pass through any part of germany to those colonies, where he could prevent it. having his treasury well supplied, he put his army in order, and in august of that year sent a peremptory demand to vienna as to the designs of austria, stating, at the same time, that he would not accept any evasive reply; but the reply being evasive, he at once rushed into saxony at the head of sixty thousand men, blockaded the king of saxony in pirna, and secured the queen in dresden. by this decisive action frederick commenced what the germans style "the seven years' war." in the palace of dresden frederick made himself master of the secret correspondence and treaties with france, russia, and austria, detailing all their designs, which he immediately published, and thus fully justified his proceedings to the world.

the austrians advanced under marshal braun, an officer of english extraction, against frederick, but after a hard-fought battle at lowositz, on the 1st of october, frederick beat them, and soon after compelled the saxon army, seventeen thousand strong, to surrender at pirna. the king of saxony, who had taken refuge in the lofty rock fortress of k?nigstein, surrendered too, on condition of being allowed to retire to warsaw, and frederick established his headquarters for the winter at dresden, levying heavy contributions throughout saxony.

during this year little was done in america. general bradstreet defeated a body of the enemy on the river onondaga, and, on the other hand, the french took the two small forts of ontario and oswego.

the year 1757 opened amid very gloomy auspices. war, of a wide and formidable character, was commencing in europe, and the house of commons was called on to vote no less than eight million three hundred thousand pounds for the supplies of the year, and to order fifty-five thousand men for the sea service, and forty-five thousand for the land. the national debt had now reached seventy-two million pounds, and was destined to a heavy and rapid increase. pitt commenced the admirable plan recommended years before by duncan forbes, of raising highland regiments from the lately disaffected clans. the militia was remodelled, it was increased to thirty-four thousand, and it was proposed to exercise the men on sunday afternoons, to facilitate their progress in discipline; but an outcry from the dissenters put a stop to this. serious riots, moreover, were the consequences of forcing such a number of men from their homes and occupations in the militia ranks; and the public discontent was raised to a crisis by the voting of two hundred thousand pounds, avowedly for the protection of hanover. a measure which the nation beheld with astonishment pitt himself introduced, notwithstanding his many thunderings against the hanover millstone.

amid these angry feelings admiral byng was brought to trial. the court-martial was held at plymouth. it commenced in december, 1756, and lasted the greater part of the month of january of the following year. after a long and[125] patient examination, the court came to the decision that byng had not done his utmost to defeat the french fleet or relieve the castle of st. philip. the court, however, sent to the admiralty in london to know whether they were at liberty to mitigate the twelfth article of war, which had been established by an act of parliament of the twenty-second year of the present reign, making neglect of duty as much deserving death as treason or cowardice. they were answered in the negative, and therefore they passed sentence on byng to be shot on board such of his majesty's ships of war and at such time as the lords of the admiralty should decide.

london bridge in 1760.

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no sooner was the sentence passed than his judges were seized with a vehement desire to procure a pardon for the admiral. they made the most urgent entreaties to the admiralty for that purpose, and captain augustus keppel authorised horace walpole to say that he and four others of the members of the council had something of importance to communicate, and desired to be relieved from their oath of secresy. the house of commons was quite ready to pass a bill for the purpose, and the king respited the admiral till all such inquiries had been made. but when the bill had been passed by one hundred and fifty-three to twenty-three, it turned out that these five officers had nothing of consequence to disclose. still lord temple, who was at the head of the admiralty, was greatly averse from the carrying out of the sentence, which, in fact, was much disproportioned to the crime. pitt also interceded with the king, and renewed applications were made to the admiralty; but, on the other hand, the people were smarting under the loss of minorca, and demanded the execution of the sentence. hand-bills were posted up, "hang byng, or take care of the king." the house of lords, when the commons' bill was carried up to them, however, settled the matter. murray and lord hardwicke demanded of every member of the court-martial at the bar of the house whether they knew of any matter which showed their sentence to be unjust, or to have been influenced by any undue motive; and as all declared they did not, the lords dismissed the bill. the[126] sentence was therefore fixed for execution on the 14th of march. byng, both during the trial, and now when brought on board the monarch in portsmouth harbour to be shot, showed no symptoms of fear. when one of his friends, to prevent a man from coming in to measure byng for his coffin, said, standing up by him, "which of us is the taller?" byng immediately replied, "why this ceremony? i know what it means; let the man measure me for a coffin." on the deck he wished to have his eyes left unbound; but when told it might frighten the soldiers and distract their aim, he said, "let it be done, then; if it would not frighten them, they would not frighten me." he fell dead at the discharge (march 14, 1757).

cumberland was now appointed to command the troops in hanover intended to co-operate with prussia against france and austria; but he had an intuitive dread of pitt, and was very unwilling to quit the kingdom whilst that formidable man was paymaster of the forces. he therefore never rested till the king dismissed him from office. george himself required little urging. he had always hated pitt for his anti-hanoverian spirit; nor had his conduct in office, however respectful, done away with his dislike. george, therefore, was desirous to get rid of the able pitt and recall the imbecile newcastle. he complained that pitt made harangues, even in the simplest matters of business, which he could not comprehend; and as for lord temple, his brother-in-law, he declared him to be pert and insolent. george therefore sent lord waldegrave to newcastle to invite him to return to office, saying, "tell him i do not look upon myself as king whilst i am in the hands of these scoundrels, and am determined to be rid of them at any rate." newcastle longed to regain his favour, but he was afraid of a notice made in the house of commons for an inquiry into the causes of the loss of minorca. the king, nevertheless, dismissed temple and pitt, and legge and others resigned. cumberland, in great delight, then embarked for hanover, thinking the main difficulty over; but, in fact, it had only just begun. the inquiry into the minorca affair was, indeed, so managed that it did not absolutely condemn the ministry of newcastle, neither did it fully acquit them; whilst, at the same time, the public were highly incensed at the dismissal of pitt, whom they rightly deemed the only man in the two houses with abilities capable of conducting the affairs of the nation successfully. addresses and presentations of the freedom of their cities came pouring in on pitt from all the great towns of the kingdom. horace walpole said it literally rained gold boxes. legge, as the firm ally of pitt, received also his share of these honours.

but for newcastle to form a cabinet was no such easy matter. pitt refused to take office with him unless he had the whole management of the war and foreign affairs. the king then agreed to send for henry fox, who accepted the office of chancellor of the exchequer; but newcastle was so sensible of fox's unpopularity that he was terrified at undertaking an administration with fox and without pitt, though he was equally reluctant to let a cabinet be formed without the former. for three months the fruitless endeavours to accomplish a ministry went on, parliament sitting all the time, and a great war commencing. finally, the king and newcastle were compelled to submit to the terms of "the great commoner," as they called pitt, who became secretary of state, with the management of the war and foreign affairs. newcastle became again first lord of the treasury, but without one of his old supporters, and legge chancellor of the exchequer; holderness, a mere cipher, was the other secretary of state; anson was placed at the head of the admiralty; lord temple was made lord privy seal; and pratt, an able lawyer and friend of pitt, attorney-general. fox condescended to take the office of paymaster of the forces; and thus, after a long and severe struggle, the feeble aristocrats, who had so long managed and disgraced the country, were compelled to admit fresh blood into the government in the person of pitt. but they still entertained the idea that they only were the men, and that wisdom would die with them. one and all, even the otherwise sagacious chesterfield, prognosticated only dishonour and ruin for such a plebeian appointment. "we are no longer a nation," said chesterfield; "i never yet saw so dreadful a prospect."

and, for some time, events seemed to justify these apprehensions by the old governing class. not a plan of pitt's but failed. his first enterprise was one of that species that has almost universally failed—a descent on the coast of france. early in september a fleet of sixteen ships of the line, attended by transports and frigates, was despatched to rochefort, carrying ten regiments of foot, under the command of sir john mordaunt. sir edward hawke commanded the fleet, and the troops were landed[127] on a small fortified island named aix, at the mouth of the charente. there, in spite of strict orders, the english soldiers and sailors became awfully drunk, and committed shocking excesses and cruelties on the inhabitants. the rumour of this made the forces in rochefort furious for vengeance; and when the army was to be landed within a few miles of the place in order to its attack, as usual in such cases, the admiral and general came to an open quarrel. mordaunt betrayed great timidity, and demanded of hawke how the troops, in case of failure, were to be brought off again. hawke replied, that must depend on wind and tide—an answer which by no means reassured mordaunt. general conway, next in command to mordaunt, was eager for advancing to the attack; and colonel wolfe—afterwards the conqueror of quebec—offered to make himself master of rochefort with three ships of war and five hundred men at his disposal. the brave offer was rejected, but the report of it at once pointed out wolfe to pitt as one of the men whom he was on the look-out to work with. howe, the next in command to hawke, proposed to batter down the fort of fouras before advancing on rochefort; but mordaunt adopted the resort of all timid commanders—a council of war—which wasted the time in which the assault should have been made, and then it was declared useless to attempt it; the fortifications of aix were destroyed, and the fleet put back. mordaunt, like byng, was brought before a court-martial, but with very different results. he was honourably acquitted—perhaps, under the atrocious 12th article of war, the court feared even to censure; and it was said by the people that byng was shot for not doing enough, and mordaunt acquitted for doing nothing at all.

in north america matters were still more unprosperous. lord loudon had raised twelve thousand men for the purpose of taking louisburg and driving the french from our frontiers; but he did nothing, not even preventing the attack of marshal montcalm, the commander-in-chief in canada, on fort william henry, which he destroyed, thus leaving unprotected the position of new york. at the same time, admiral holbourne, who was to have attacked the french squadron off louisburg, did not venture to do it, because he said they had eighteen ships to his seventeen, and a greater weight of metal.

such was the condition into which an army and navy, once illustrious through the victories of marlborough and blake, were reduced by the aristocratic imbecility of the newcastles, bedfords, and cumberlands. this last princely general had, in fact, put the climax to his career. he had placed himself at the head of fifty thousand confederate troops, in which there were no english, except the officers of his own staff, to defend his father's electorate of hanover. but this ruthless general, who never won a battle except the solitary one of culloden, against a handful of famished men, was found totally incompetent to cope with the french general, d'estrées. he allowed the french to cross the deep and rapid weser, and continued to fall back before them as they entered the electorate, until he was driven to the village of hastenbeck, near hameln, where the enemy overtook and defeated him. he then continued his retreat across the desolate lüneburg heath, to cover stade, near the mouth of the elbe, where the archives and other valuable effects of hanover had been deposited for safety. at this time richelieu succeeded to the command of d'estrées in this quarter, and he continued to drive cumberland before him, taking hameln, g?ttingen, and hanover itself, and soon after bremen and verden. thus were hanover and verden, which had cost england such millions to defend, seized by france; nor did the disgrace end here. cumberland was cooped up in stade, and compelled, on the 8th of december, to sign a convention at closter-seven, by which he engaged to send home the hesse and brunswick troops, and to disperse the hanoverians into different quarters, not to serve again during the war.

meanwhile, frederick of prussia was waging a tremendous war with france, russia, and austria. to disable austria before her allies could come up to her aid, he suddenly, in april, made an eruption into bohemia. his army threaded the defiles of the mountains of the bohemian frontier in different divisions, and united before prague, where marshal braun and prince charles of lorraine met him with eighty thousand men, his own forces amounting to about seventy thousand. a most obstinate and sanguinary conflict took place, which continued from nine in the morning till eight at night, in which twenty-four thousand austrians were killed, wounded, or taken prisoners, and eighteen thousand prussians. the prussians were destitute of pontoons to cross the moldau, or their writers contend that not an austrian would have escaped. but marshal daun advancing out of moravia with another[128] strong army, to which sixteen thousand of the fugitives from prague had united themselves, frederick was compelled to abandon the siege of prague, and march to near kolin, where he was thoroughly defeated by daun, with a loss of thirteen thousand of his bravest troops.

this was a blow which for a time completely prostrated the prussian monarch. nothing but the most indomitable spirit and the highest military talent could have saved any man under such circumstances. but frederick had disciplined both his generals and soldiers to despise reverses, and he relied on their keeping at bay the host of enemies with which he was surrounded till he had tried a last blow. on the field of rosbach, near the plain of lützen, where gustavus adolphus fell, after having relieved marshal keith at leipsic, frederick gave battle to the united french and austrians. the french numbered forty thousand men, the austrians twenty thousand; yet, with his twenty thousand against sixty thousand, frederick, on the 5th of november, took the field. his inferior numbers favoured the stratagem which he had planned. after fighting fiercely for awhile, his troops gave way, and appeared to commence a hasty retreat. this, however, was continued only till the french and austrians were thrown off their guard, when the prussians suddenly turned, and received the headlong squadrons with a murderous coolness and composure. the austrians, confounded, fled at once; and soubise, a general of the princely house of rohan, who owed his appointment to madame pompadour, was totally incapable of coping with the prussian veterans. he saw his troops flying in wild rout, and galloped off with them, leaving a vast number of slain, seven thousand prisoners, and the greater part of his baggage, artillery, and standards in the hands of the enemy.

the battle of rosbach raised the fame of frederick wonderfully all over europe. he soon roused himself, however, for fresh efforts. whilst he had been thus engaged on the saale, the austrians had again overrun silesia, defeating the prussians under the duke of bevern, storming the great fortress of schweidnitz, and making themselves masters of breslau, the capital. in spite of his reduced numbers and the advancing winter, frederick immediately directed his march towards silesia, gathering reinforcements as he went, so that by the 5th of december, just one month from the battle of rosbach, he came up with prince charles of lorraine and marshal daun at lissa, a small village near breslau, and with forty thousand men encountered and defeated nearly seventy thousand austrians, killing and wounding twenty-seven thousand of them, taking above fifty standards, one hundred cannon, four thousand waggons, and much other spoil. this battle at once freed silesia from the austrians, who trooped over the mountains in all haste, and left the victorious king to close this unexampled campaign.

to add to the fame of frederick, news arrived that marshal lewald, with twenty thousand prussians, had beaten the great horde of russians at j?gerndorf, and driven them out of prussia, with the single exception of memel; that lewald and manteuffel had swept the swedes out of pomerania, taking three thousand prisoners; and that prince henry of prussia and prince ferdinand of brunswick, to whom frederick, at the urgent request of england, had entrusted the command of the hanoverian and hessian troops which cumberland had abandoned, had, with these very troops, driven the french from lüneburg, zell, and hanover. these troops, it is true, were bound by the convention of closter-seven not to fight again during the war; but the generals pleaded that the cruelties and rapacity of the french in hanover were such as set aside all compacts.

pitt, though he remained determined against our continuing to send soldiers to germany, was so elated at the success of frederick that, on the meeting of parliament, on the 1st of december, he supported the vote of six hundred and seventy thousand pounds as a subsidy to prussia, george having entered into a new convention with frederick to defend his electorate. pitt, on the same occasion, pronounced a glowing eulogium on clive's proceedings in india. this great minister had, in fact, formed the most extensive designs for the colonial aggrandisement of england, and the repulse of france in those quarters. at his suggestion, lord loudon had been sent to north america, and as he had failed to render any service, general abercrombie had gone out to supersede him. pitt already, however, had his eye on a young officer, wolfe, whom he deemed the true hero for that service; whilst, on the opposite side of the globe, he was watching the proceedings of another young officer with immense pleasure—namely, clive. these two remarkable men, under the fostering genius of pitt, were destined to destroy the ascendency of france in those regions, and to lay the foundations of british power on a scale of splendour beyond all previous conception.

[129]

lord clive. (after the portrait by gainsborough.)

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clive, a young clerk of the company's, at madras, had deserted his desk, taken a commission, and, as early as 1748, had distinguished himself by baffling the french commanders dupleix and bussy, at pondicherry. in 1751 he had taken arcot from chunda sahib, the viceroy of the carnatic, and, aided by the mahrattas, defeated rajah sahib, the son of chunda, in a splendid victory at arnee. in 1752 he raised the siege of trichinopoly, where the nabob of arcot was besieged by the french. in 1755, landing at bombay from england, he, with admiral watson, made an expedition to gheriah, the stronghold of the celebrated pirate angria, demolished it, and seized the spoils, valued at one hundred and twenty thousand pounds. in 1757 he took calcutta from the nabob surajah dowlah, the ally of the french, who had captured it, and shut up the english prisoners in the memorable black hole, where, in one night (june 20, 1756), out of one hundred and forty-six persons, one hundred and twenty-three perished. clive also captured the city of hooghly, defeated dowlah, and compelled him to cede the town and vicinity. he then drove the french from their factory of chandernagore; marched forward on moorshedabad, defeated surajah dowlah in a battle extraordinary for the rout of an immense army by a mere handful of men, at plassey (1757); deposed him, and seated on his throne meer jaffier. from this day dates british supremacy in india.

in america lord amherst took the chief command, with wolfe as his second; abercrombie being despatched to reduce the french forts on[130] lakes george and champlain, and thus open the way into canada. on the 2nd of june the british fleet, commanded by admiral boscawen, and carrying lord amherst and twelve thousand men, anchored before louisburg, the capital of cape breton. the french had six thousand men, soldiers and marines, and five ships of the line were drawn up in the harbour. the landing was therefore effected with difficulty; but wolfe, who led the way in person, showed such spirit and activity, and the admiral and general, unlike the usual conduct on such occasions, acted together with such unanimity and zeal, that the french were compelled, towards the end of july, to capitulate, and the soldiers of the garrison were sent to england, prisoners of war. the whole island of cape breton submitted to the conquerors, and the island of st. john was also reduced by colonel lord rollo. st. john's was afterwards named prince edward's island, in compliment to the royal family.

the events on land were very different. abercrombie, like general braddock, advanced with all the careless presumption of a second-rate general. the grand object was to reduce fort ticonderoga, built on a neck of land between lakes george and champlain. at the landing, lord howe, one of the best officers, was killed, but they drove back the french, and advanced on the fort, which was of great strength, defended by a garrison of four thousand men, commanded by the marquis de montcalm, the commander-in-chief of the canadians, himself. montcalm had raised a breastwork eight feet high, and made in front of it a barricade of felled trees with their branches outwards. abercrombie, with a foolish confidence, advanced right upon this barricade, without waiting for the coming up of his artillery, which was detained by the badness of the roads. with a reckless disregard of the lives of his men, he commanded them to attempt to storm these defences, and after fighting with the usual courage of englishmen for several hours, and two thousand of them being slaughtered, it was found that their efforts were useless, and they were ordered to retire. brigadier forbes, who had been sent against fort dupuesne, an attempt so disastrous to both washington and braddock, executed his task with the utmost promptitude and success. forbes took possession of it on the 25th of november, and, in compliment to the great minister under whose auspices they fought, named it fort pitt, since grown from a solitary fort into pittsburg.

in europe, pitt was still bent on those attacks on the coast of france which long experience had shown were of little use as means of successful war, but highly objectionable, as fraught with excessive inhumanity to the innocent people of the seaboard. this, his second expedition, was aimed at st. malo. a fleet of eighteen ships of the line, thirteen frigates, with sloops, fire-ships, and bomb-ketches, was put under the command of lord howe; but as sir edward hawke, his senior, struck his flag, and refused to serve as second, lord anson, to get rid of the difficulty, put himself nominally at the head of the squadron. the command of the troops was given to the duke of marlborough, a brave man, but destitute of the genius of his father, and lord george sackville and lord granby were under him. there were fourteen thousand troops of the line and six thousand marines. with these went a number of aristocratic volunteers, amongst them lord downe, sir john armitage, and sir john lowther, the possessor of fourteen thousand pounds a-year. on the 5th of june, 1758, the transports anchored in cancale bay, and next day the troops were landed and led against st. malo. this town, built on one of a cluster of granite rocks which rise out of the sea on that iron-bound coast, they found too strongly fortified to storm, but they burnt a hundred and thirty privateers and a great quantity of small craft in the harbour, and then returned to their ships. they then sailed for le havre, but were prevented by the wind from doing the same damage, and so continued their voyage to granville and cherbourg, whence they were driven by storm; and thereupon coasting a considerable way farther, but to no purpose, the fleet returned to portsmouth, the main result being a heavy expense. fox and the opposition in the commons called it breaking windows with guineas; and the old king, who had expressed his dislike of this sort of warfare, said we should brag of having burnt the french ships, and the french of having driven us away.

the next month pitt despatched a smaller fleet and force to destroy the port of cherbourg, which the french had constructed under cardinal fleury, and, as they stated by an inscription, "for all eternity." this time the command was given to general bligh. howe was admiral, and on board with him went prince edward, afterwards duke of york. on the 8th of august the troops were landed at cherbourg, which was[131] deserted by the garrison, and they destroyed the forts and harbour, demolished a hundred and seventy pieces of iron cannon, and carried off twenty-two fine brass ones. after re-embarking and returning to portsmouth, bligh was ordered to pay another visit to st. malo, but still found it too strong for him; yet he landed his men in the bay of st. lunaire, about two leagues westward of st. malo; and the weather immediately driving howe to sea, the army was marched overland to st. cast, some leagues off. the soldiers were allowed to rove about and plunder, till bligh heard that the duke of aiguillon was advancing against them at the head of a strong force. bligh then, but in no hurry, marched for the port of st. cast, followed by aiguillon, who waited till he had embarked all but one thousand five hundred men, when he fell upon them, and slaughtered a thousand of them in a hollow way amongst the rocks leading down to the shore.

in germany, prince ferdinand of brunswick, after driving the french out of hanover, had followed them across the rhine this spring, and on the 23rd of june defeated them at crefeld, with a slaughter of six thousand men. he then took düsseldorf; but the french court recalling the incapable clermont, and sending marshal de contades with fresh forces against him, and prince soubise defeating the hessians, he was obliged to fall back into westphalia, where he was joined by the duke of marlborough and lord george sackville with the english auxiliaries, but too late to effect anything further. shortly afterwards the duke of marlborough died suddenly, under strong suspicions of having been poisoned.

frederick of prussia, meanwhile, had been beset by austrians, russians, and french, and had never been able to retire to winter quarters. he had continued to blockade schweidnitz amid frost and snow, and having reduced it, at the very first symptoms of spring he suddenly burst into moravia, and invested olmütz, its capital. there he had to contend with the able and cautious marshal daun and general laudohn, nearly as efficient. laudohn managed to seize three thousand waggons, bringing from silesia supplies for frederick; and whilst the king was in this state of destitution for food even for his army, a hundred thousand russians, under general fermor, were marching steadily on berlin. they had taken k?nigsberg, laid waste the whole country beyond the vistula, and then pushed on for the oder. they had arrived before küstrin, only a few marches from berlin, when frederick, leaving his brother, prince henry, to keep daun and laudohn in check before olmütz, marched against them. a terrible battle took place on the plain of z?rndorf, near custrin, in which neither prussians nor russians gave quarter, and which lasted from nine in the morning till seven at night. twenty thousand russians were left killed or wounded on the field, and eleven thousand prussians. the russians retired with reluctance, and did not wholly evacuate the prussian territory till the end of october. but frederick himself, long before that time, had been compelled to hurry back to the support of his brother henry, whom daun had driven back into saxony. he fixed his camp at hochkirch, near bautzen, and close to the bohemian lines. but a few mornings after, before daybreak, daun and laudohn burst into his camp by a combined movement, and threw the whole into confusion before the troops could muster. when frederick awoke at the uproar and rushed from his tent, all around was one fearful scene of slaughter and flight. the news of this defeat of the generally victorious prussians threw the court of vienna into ecstacies, for they thought that frederick was ruined; and so he might have been had daun been as alert to follow him up as he had been successful in surprising him. but daun was naturally slow; a very few days sufficed for frederick to collect fresh forces around him, and he suddenly darted away into silesia. there he raised the siege of neisse, which was invested by another division of the austrian army; then, falling back on dresden, threatened by daun, he drove him back, and, marching to breslau, fixed there his winter quarters.

the year 1759 is one of the most glorious in our annals. pitt, by his own spirit, and by selecting brave and able men, had infused such ardour into our service, that our officers no longer seemed the same men. still, france, stung by the reverses and insults which we had heaped on her, but especially by our ravages of her coast, contemplated a retaliatory descent on ours. gunboats were accumulated at le havre and other ports, and fleets were kept ready at toulon and brest, as well as a squadron at dunkirk, under admiral thurot, a brave seaman. the king sent a message to the commons, demanding the calling out of the militia; and[132] the twenty-four thousand french prisoners who had been left in great destitution by their own government on our hands, were marched into the interior of the country. in july admiral rodney anchored in the roads of le havre, bombarded the town, set it on fire in several places, and destroyed many of the gunboats. in august the toulon fleet, commanded by admiral de la clue, on its way to operate against our coast, was pursued by boscawen, who had recently returned from america, and overtaken off lagos, in algarve. de la clue was mortally wounded, and his ship—reckoned the finest in the french navy—and three others were taken, whilst a fifth was run aground and burnt. at the same time the blockades of dunkirk and brest were vigorously kept up.

surprise of frederick at hochkirch. (see p. 131.)

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the enemy's fleets being thus destroyed or shut up, pitt determined on his great enterprise, the conquest of canada. the idea was worthy of his genius. his feeble predecessors had suffered the french from this neighbouring colony to aspire to the conquest of our north american territory. they had built strong forts on the lakes and down the valley of the ohio; they intended to connect them with the mississippi, and then to drive us out of the country. had not pitt come into office they might probably have succeeded. but pitt had already commenced the driving in of the french outposts, and he now planned the complete expulsion of that nation from their advanced posts and from canada itself. his scheme had three parts, which were all to concentrate themselves into one grand effort—the taking of quebec, the capital. it was a daring enterprise, for canada was ably governed and defended by marshal de montcalm, a man of great military experience and talent, and highly esteemed for his noble character by the colonists and the indians, vast tribes of whom he had won over to his interest by his courtesy and conciliatory manner, whilst the english had as much disgusted them by their haughty surliness. but pitt had picked his men for the occasion, and especially for the grand coup-de-main, the taking of quebec. he formed his whole plan himself, and though it was not perfect, and was greatly criticised by military men, it succeeded[133] though not in effecting the combination which he contemplated, in all its parts.

admiral rodney bombarding le h?vre. (see p. 132.)

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the left of his operations was entrusted to general prideaux with a body of colonial militia, and sir william johnson with another of friendly indians, over whom he had a wonderful ascendency. this united force was to march against the fort of niagara, reduce it, and then, crossing lake ontario, advance on montreal. the centre of his operations was entrusted to general amherst, who superseded abercrombie. with twelve thousand men he was again to attempt ticonderoga, open the navigation of lake champlain, and then, joining prideaux and johnson at montreal, descend the st. lawrence to support wolfe, who was to be conveyed by sea to the st. lawrence, and to prepare for the storming of quebec, it being hoped that, by the time of his arrival, the two other divisions of the army would have come up.

in pursuance of this plan of the campaign, prideaux and johnson arrived before the fort of niagara in the middle of july, which they found very strong, and garrisoned by six hundred men. prideaux was soon killed by the bursting of a shell, but johnson continued the siege with great ability, having to invest the fort on one hand, whilst he was menaced on the other by a mixed body of french and indians, one thousand seven hundred in number, who came to relieve the fort. the attack upon him commenced with a terrible war-whoop of the indians, which, mingling with the roar of the great cataract near, made the most horrible din imaginable. but this did not disconcert the english and their savage allies, who received them with such steady courage, that in less than an hour they were put to the rout in sight of their own garrison, and pursued for five miles with dreadful slaughter. the garrison thereupon capitulated, remaining prisoners of war. there, however, sir william johnson's career stopped. from various causes, not foreseen, he was not able to advance beyond the ontario to unite with amherst. that general had fully succeeded in taking ticonderoga and crown point, but he found the french so strongly posted on an island at the upper end of lake champlain, that he was compelled to stop and build[134] boats to enable his army to reach and dislodge them; and it was not till october that he was ready to proceed, when he was driven back repeatedly by tempests, and compelled to go into winter quarters.

wolfe, meanwhile, had reached the st. lawrence in june, on board a fleet commanded by admiral saunders. the navigation of that river was considered very dangerous, but in ascending they captured two small store-ships, and found on board some excellent charts of the river, which enabled the admiral to ascend safely. on the 27th of june the army was landed on the isle of orleans, in the middle of the st. lawrence, in front of quebec.

the canadas at that period contained only about sixty thousand souls, quebec about seven thousand. but the city occupies a most formidable site. it stands on a steep and rocky promontory running into the left bank of the st. lawrence, about a hundred leagues from its mouth, and where the river, from a breadth of from twelve to twenty miles, rapidly narrows to about one mile. the city is built part on the rocky heights, part on the slopes below. up the river from the city rose still higher and almost inaccessible steeps, called the heights of abraham, and, on the other hand, the side of the city down the stream was bounded by the river st. charles, which there runs into the st. lawrence. the stretch of ground between the st. charles and the stream of montmorency, some miles lower, called beauport, was connected by a bridge with quebec. on this ground, as the most accessible side of the city, montcalm had encamped his army, consisting altogether of ten thousand french, canadians, and indians.

wolfe raised batteries at point levi and on the island, and bombarded the town, but he could not draw the wary montcalm from his strong position. in his front lay the river and some unapproachable sandbanks, behind and around him rocks and dense woods inaccessible. once only he made a rush across the river, and endeavoured, with a detachment of one thousand six hundred men, to gain the batteries on point levi; but his troops soon saw the attempt to be hopeless, and retired. no measures were neglected by wolfe, on his part, to draw montcalm from his position. he marched along the banks of the montmorency opposite to him, and made feints as if he would cross it somewhere above him, but to no purpose—montcalm knew his advantage. wolfe wrote home, that if montcalm had but shut himself up in quebec, he could have taken the town very easily, but he could not readily force him from his admirable position. growing at length impatient, he determined to attack him where he was, and he dispatched admiral holmes up the river with a number of transports, as though he contemplated something in that quarter. he then landed, on the 31st of july, a body of troops near the mouth of the montmorency, which there falls three hundred feet into the st. lawrence. he had discovered a ford at some distance up the river, and dispatched brigadier townshend to cross there and attack montcalm in flank, whilst he himself, by means of the ships and their boats, gained the beach and attacked in front. the centurion man-of-war was placed to engage a battery which swept the place of landing, and then the troops were conveyed in boats, which drew little water, towards the shore. some of these, however, got entangled amongst rocks, and created a delay in getting them off. by this time the french were hurrying down towards the landing-place with their artillery, and began to fire murderously from the banks above upon them. wolfe, seeing that townshend would cross the ford before they were ready to co-operate, sent an officer to recall him. at this time, the grenadiers having reached the beach, rushed forward upon the entrenchments before the rest of the troops could be got out of the boats to support them. they were met by such a destructive fire that they were compelled to fall back with much slaughter. by this time night was setting in, attended by a storm, the roaring of which, mingling with the roar of the mighty st. lawrence as the tide fell, seemed to warn them to recover their camp. the word was given to re-cross the river, and they made good their retreat without the french attempting to pursue them, though the indians lurked in the rear to scalp such of the dead and such of the wounded as could not be brought off.

wolfe then held a council with his two next in command, the brigadiers monckton and townshend, and they resolved, as a desperate attempt, to move up the river, and thus endeavour to draw montcalm from his unassailable position. accordingly, leaving detachments to defend the isle of orleans and point levi, the rest of the army ascended the st. lawrence for some miles, and pitched their camp on the right bank. to attract still more attention, admiral holmes was ordered to put his vessels in active motion for some days, as if seeking a landing-place higher up the river.[135] this stratagem, however, produced no other result than that of montcalm sending a detachment of one thousand five hundred men to watch their proceedings. he himself maintained his old ground.

completely disheartened by this result, wolfe for a moment felt despair of his object, and in that despairing mood, on the 9th of september, he wrote to pitt. he said that, "to the uncommon strength of the country, the enemy had added, for the defence of the river, a great number of floating batteries and boats; that the vigilance of the indians had prevented their effecting anything by surprise; that he had had a choice of difficulties, and felt at a loss how to proceed; and he concluded with the remark, that his constitution was entirely ruined, without the consolation of having done any considerable service to the state, or without any prospect of it."

but the despondency of wolfe was but for a moment. suddenly a new idea—an inspiration, it seemed—burst upon him: he would scale the heights of abraham—the point where no mortal ascent was dreamed of, and which therefore was less defended, except by nature, than the rest of the vicinity of the city. the ships were immediately ordered to make a feint, under admiral saunders, opposite montcalm's camp at beauport, and those under holmes, at a point higher up the river. attention being thus drawn from himself, on the night of the 12th of september, when it was pitch dark and the tide flowing, he put across the river to a small inlet about two miles above quebec, which ever since bears the name of wolfe's cove.

they succeeded in landing unobserved by any of the sentinels posted along the shore, where they had to wait for the boats fetching over the second detachment, there not being boats enough. before this arrived, they began to climb the rocks by a narrow track, so steep and rugged that they could only ascend by clinging to the bushes and projecting crags. directly above their heads was a watch-post of a captain and a hundred and fifty men. there, as they drew near the summit, colonel howe—a brother of lord howe, who fell at ticonderoga—leading the van, the watch became aware of a noise, and fired down the rocks, directed by the sound. the english soldiers imprudently returned the volley upwards, instead of reserving it until they had gained the ascent. they continued their scramble up, however, with redoubled ardour, and the french, on their sudden appearance, panic-struck, fled. the second detachment soon followed them, and the whole little army stood on the heights above the town before the break of day.

when montcalm was informed of this wonderful feat, he thought it merely some new feint to draw him from his lines; but when he had ascertained with his own eyes the truth, he said, "i see them, indeed, where they ought not to be; but, as we must fight, i shall crush them." he immediately led his troops over the bridge of the st. charles, and up to the eminence above the town. there he found the english already advanced in order of battle to within cannon-shot of quebec. wolfe had drawn them up with much judgment. his left wing was formed in what military men call en potence—that is, facing two ways, so as to guard against being outflanked. in this wing, too, he had placed a regiment of highlanders, one of those which pitt had formed, and which had already shown its bravery. his right, extending towards the st. lawrence, had in the van the grenadiers who had distinguished themselves at the taking of louisburg, supported by a regiment of the line. wolfe had taken his post on this wing. the sailors had managed to drag up one cannon, and they had seized four other small guns at the battery they had passed; that was all their artillery. but in this respect montcalm was no better off, for in his haste he had only brought along with him two guns. he had ordered a cloud of indians to hover on the left of the english, and had lined the thickets and copses with one thousand five hundred of his best marksmen. these concealed skirmishers fired on the advancing pickets of the english with such effect, that they fell back in confusion; but wolfe hastened forward, encouraged them to dash on, and ordered the first line to reserve their fire till within forty yards of the enemy. the men well obeyed the order, and marched briskly on without firing a shot, whilst the french came hurrying forward, firing as they came. they killed many of the english, but, as soon as these came within the forty yards' distance, they poured a steady and well-directed a volley into the enemy that did dreadful execution. wolfe, with characteristic enthusiasm, was in the front line, encouraging them by voice and action, and in less than half an hour the french ranks broke, and many began to fly. meanwhile wolfe, exposing himself to the very hottest fire, had been wounded in the wrist by nearly the first discharge; and he had scarcely wrapped his handkerchief around it, when another bullet hit him in the groin. still appearing to[136] pay no attention to these serious wounds, he was in the act of inciting his men to fresh efforts, when a ball pierced his chest, and he fell. he was carried to the rear, and, whilst he seemed to be in the very agony of death, one of those around him cried, "see how they run!" "who run?" exclaimed wolfe, raising himself, with sudden energy, on his elbow. "the enemy," replied the officer; "they give way in all directions." "god be praised!" ejaculated wolfe; "i die happy!" and, falling back, he expired. nearly at the same moment brigadier monckton was severely wounded, and brigadier townshend took the command, and completed the victory. montcalm, also, had fallen. he was struck by a musket-ball whilst endeavouring to rally his men, and was carried into the city, where he died the next day. when told that he could not live—"so much the better," replied this brave and able man; "i shall not then live to see the surrender of quebec." his second in command was also mortally wounded, and being taken on board the english ships, also died the next day. of the french, one thousand five hundred had fallen, and six hundred and forty of the english. on the 18th september, five days after the battle, the city capitulated, the garrison marching out with the honours of war, and under engagement to be conveyed to the nearest french port. other fragments of the defeated army retired to montreal.

whilst this glorious news came from the west, from the east arrived tidings equally stirring. in india colonel coote, afterwards famous as sir eyre coote, defeated the french under lally, and made himself master of all arcot. general ford defeated the marquis de conflans, and took masulipatam, and afterwards defeated a detachment of dutch, which had landed from java to aid our enemies in bengal. ford completely routed them, and took the seven ships which had brought them over, and which lay in the hooghly.

at sea, sir edward hawke attacked the french fleet under admiral conflans at the mouth of the vilaine in quibéron bay. the situation, amid rocks and shoals, and with a sea running high, so late in the year as the 20th of november, was most perilous, but hawke scorned all danger, attacked the french fleet close under their own shores, took two men-of-war, sank four more, including the admiral's ship, the soleil royal, and caused the rest, more or less damaged, to take refuge up the river. two of our own vessels were stranded in the night, but their crews and stores were saved. for this brilliant action, which crippled the french navy for the remainder of the war, hawke was thanked by parliament, received from the king a pension of one thousand five hundred pounds a-year for his own and his son's life, and, in the next reign, was raised to the peerage. thurot, meanwhile, had escaped out of dunkirk, but with only five ships, which kept out of the way by seeking shelter in the ports of sweden and norway.

in germany, frederick of prussia was hard put to it. a fresh army of russians, under general soltikow, advanced to the oder, and another army of austrians, under laudohn, advanced to form a junction with them. to prevent this, frederick sent general wedel to encounter the russians, but he was defeated by them on the 23rd of july, with heavy loss. frederick himself then hastened against them, but, before his arrival, the austrians had joined soltikow, making a united force of sixty thousand, which frederick attacked, on the 12th of august, with forty-eight thousand, at the village of kunersdorf, close to frankfort-on-the-oder. at first he was successful; but, attempting to push his advantages, he was completely beaten, the whole of his army being killed or scattered to three thousand men. so completely did his ruin now seem accomplished, that, expecting the russians, austrians, poles, swedes, and saxons to come down on him on all sides, he once more contemplated taking the poison that he still carried about him; wrote a letter to that effect to his prime minister, and directed the oath of allegiance to be taken to his nephew, and that his brother, prince henry, should be regent; but finding that the russians, who had lost twenty thousand men, were actually drawing off, he again took courage, was soon at the head of thirty thousand men, and with these was hastening to the relief of dresden, when he was paralysed by the news that general finck, with twelve thousand men, had suffered himself to be surrounded at maxen, and compelled to surrender. despairing of relieving dresden during this campaign, frederick eventually took up his winter quarters at freiberg, in saxony, and employed himself in raising and drilling fresh soldiers; compelled, however, to pay his way by debasing both the prussian coin, and the english gold which he received in subsidy, by a very large alloy.

[137]

death of wolfe. (after the painting by benjamin west, p.r.a.)

[see larger version]

[138]

prince ferdinand of brunswick was more successful. he was at the head of an army of fifty-five thousand men, including ten or twelve thousand english, under lord george sackville. as the french had taken frankfort-on-the-main, he left the british and hanoverian troops, amounting to twenty-eight thousand men, to watch the french, under marshal de contades, upon the lippe, and set out to drive back the other divisions of the french, under de broglie. he found these amounted to thirty-five thousand strong, but he did not hesitate to engage them at bergen, on the nidda, near frankfort. after a hard-fought battle, he was defeated with a loss of two thousand men and five pieces of cannon. de broglie pushed rapidly after him, formed a junction with contades, and speedily reduced cassel, münster, and minden. there appeared every prospect of the whole electorate of hanover being again overrun by them. the archives were once more sent off to stade, ready for embarkation. but ferdinand now displayed the superiority of his generalship. he left five thousand of his troops, with an air of carelessness, in the way of the french, who, unsuspicious of any stratagem, hastened forward to surprise them, when, to their astonishment, they found the whole of ferdinand's army had been brought up in the night, and were drawn up behind a ridge near minden.

to approach ferdinand's forces, the french were obliged to pass a narrow ground between a river and a marsh, and were so cramped that they committed the very error which cost them the battle of blenheim. they placed the cavalry in the centre, and made wings of their infantry. the cavalry made a succession of furious charges on ferdinand's centre, but this stood compact and immovable, till the french horse, being discouraged, the allies charged in their turn, and the centre of the army, the cavalry, being thus driven back, the whole line gave way. at this moment ferdinand sent orders to lord george sackville to charge with the cavalry, which had been kept in reserve, and thus complete the destruction of the flying french. but lord george, who had been constantly quarrelling with ferdinand, as well as his own second in command, the marquis of granby, now did not appear to comprehend a succession of orders, and sat still. but ferdinand, having lost patience, sent word to the marquis of granby to advance, and he promptly obeyed, but it was now too late; the french had got half an hour's start. thus the english cavalry was deprived of all share in the victory; but the english foot had borne the chief brunt of the attack, being in the centre. six british regiments, in fact, for a time maintained the whole shock of the french. sackville was tried by court martial, and dismissed from all his military appointments. the battle of minden was fought on the 1st of august, 1759.

the parliament of england met on the 13th of october. pitt, not without cause, assumed much merit from the successes of the year; and, in truth, so far as military matters went, rarely had this country reaped such fame. we had triumphed in every quarter of the world. in january came the news of the capture of goree; in june, of guadeloupe; in august, that of the victory of minden; in september, of the victory off lagos; in october, of the conquest of quebec; in november, of hawke's victory off quiberon. horace walpole said, "victories came so thick, that every morning we were obliged to ask what victory there was, for fear of missing one." at the same time, the condition of our trade warranted the inscription afterwards placed on chatham's monument in the guildhall, that he caused commerce to flourish with war.

the earliest martial event of the year 1760 was the landing of thurot, the french admiral, at carrickfergus, on the 28th of february. he had been beating about between scandinavia and ireland till he had only three ships left, and but six hundred soldiers. but carrickfergus being negligently garrisoned, thurot made his way into the town and plundered it, but was soon obliged to abandon it. he was overtaken by captain elliot and three frigates before he had got out to sea, his ships were taken, he himself was killed, and his men were carried prisoners to ramsey, in the isle of man.

in april the french made an attempt to recover quebec. brigadier-general murray had been left in command of the troops, six thousand in number, and the fleet had returned to england. the marquis de vaudreuil, now the french governor at montreal, formed a plan of dropping down the st. lawrence the moment the ice broke up, and before the mouth of the river was clear for ships to ascend from england. he therefore held in readiness five thousand regular troops, and as many militia, and the moment the ice broke in april, though the ground was still covered with snow, he embarked them in ships and boats under the command of chevalier de levis, an officer of reputation. on the 28th of that month they were within sight[139] of quebec. they had landed higher up than where wolfe did, and were now at the village of sillery, not far from wolfe's place of ascent. murray, who had only about three thousand men available for such a purpose, the rest having been reduced by sickness, or being needed to man the fortifications, yet ventured to march out against them. he was emulous of the fame of wolfe, and attacked this overwhelming force with great impetuosity, but was soon compelled to retire into quebec with the loss of one thousand men killed and wounded. this was a serious matter with their scanty garrison, considering the numbers of the enemy, and the uncertainty of the arrival of succour.

levis, who knew that his success depended on forestalling any english arrivals, lost no time in throwing up trenches and preparing batteries. had the river continued closed, quebec must soon have reverted to the french; but, on the 11th of may, the english were rejoiced to see a frigate approaching, and this, only four days after, was followed by another frigate and a ship of the line. these, commanded by lord colville, immediately attacked and destroyed or drove on shore the french flotilla, and at that sight levis struck his tents and decamped as rapidly as he came, leaving behind him his baggage and artillery. nor was the marquis de vaudreuil left long undisturbed at montreal. the three expeditions, which had failed to meet the preceding summer, were now ordered to converge on montreal—amherst from lake ontario, haviland from crown point, and murray from quebec. amherst had been detained at oswego by an outbreak of the cherokees against us. this native tribe had been friendly to us, and we had built a fort in their country, and called it fort loudon, after lord loudon; but in the autumn of 1759 they had been bought over by the french, and made a terrible raid on our back settlements, murdering and scalping the defenceless inhabitants. mr. lyttelton, the governor of south carolina, marched against them with a thousand men, and compelled them to submission; but no sooner had he retired than they recommenced their hostilities, and amherst sent against them colonel montgomery, with one thousand two hundred men, who made a merciless retaliation, plundering and burning their villages, so as to impress a sufficient terror upon them.

amherst had now ten thousand men; and though he had to carry all his baggage and artillery over the ontario in open boats, and to pass the rapids of the upper st. lawrence, he made a most able and prosperous march, reducing the fort of ?le royale on the way, and reached the isle of montreal on the very same day as murray, and a day before haviland. vaudreuil saw that resistance was hopeless, and capitulated on the 8th of september. the french were, according to contract, sent home, under engagement not to come against us during the remainder of the war. besides this, lord byron chased a squadron of three frigates, convoying twenty store-ships to quebec, into the bay of chaleur, and there destroyed them. thus all the french possessions in north america, excepting the recent and feeble settlement of new orleans, remained in our hands.

the war in germany grew more and more bloody. russia and austria came down upon frederick this year with great forces. daun entered saxony; laudohn and soltikow, silesia. laudohn defeated fouqué at landshut, and took the fortress of glatz, and compelled frederick, though hard pressed by daun, to march for silesia. the month was july, the weather so hot that upwards of a hundred of his soldiers fell dead on the march. daun followed him, watching his opportunity to fall upon him when engaged with other troops, but on the way frederick heard of the defeat of fouqué and the fall of glatz, and suddenly turned back to reach dresden before daun, and take the city by storm; but as daun was too expeditious for him, and maguire, the governor, an irishman, paid no heed to his demands for surrender, frederick, who had lately been so beautifully philosophising on the inhumanities of men, commenced a most ferocious bombardment, not of the fortress but of the town. he burnt and laid waste the suburbs, fired red-hot balls into the city to burn it all down, demolished the finest churches and houses, and crushed the innocent inhabitants in their flaming and falling dwellings, till crowds rushed from the place in desperation, rather facing his ruthless soldiers than the horrors of his bombardment.

prevented by the arrival of daun from utterly destroying dresden, though he had done enough to require thirty years of peace to restore it, frederick marched for silesia. laudohn, who was besieging breslau, quitted it at his approach; but the prussian king, who found himself surrounded by three armies, cut his way, on the 15th of august, at liegnitz, through laudohn's division, which he denominated merely "a[140] scratch." he was instantly, however, called away to defend his own capital from a combined army of russians under todleben, and of austrians under lacy, another irishman; but before he could reach them they had forced an entrance, on the 9th of october. the russians, departing from their usual custom of plunder, touched nothing, but levied a contribution of one million seven hundred thousand dollars on the city. at frederick's approach they withdrew.

but there was no rest for frederick. daun was overrunning saxony; had reduced leipsic, wittenberg, and torgau. frederick marched against him, retook leipsic, and came up with daun at torgau on the 3rd of november. there a most sanguinary battle took place, which lasted all day and late into the night. within half an hour five thousand of frederick's grenadiers, the pride of his army, were killed by daun's batteries of four hundred cannon. frederick was himself disabled and carried into the rear, and altogether fourteen thousand prussians were killed or wounded, and twenty thousand of the austrians. this scene of savage slaughter closed the campaign. the austrians evacuated saxony, with the exception of dresden; the russians re-passed the oder, and frederick took up his winter quarters at leipsic.

prince ferdinand this summer had to contend with numerous armies of the french. de broglie marched from frankfort into hesse with a hundred thousand men. on the 10th of july they met the hereditary prince of brunswick at corbach, and defeated him, though he gained a decided advantage over them a few days after at emsdorf, taking the commander of the division and five battalions prisoners. this was followed by ferdinand himself, who was at warburg, where he took ten pieces of artillery, killed one thousand five hundred of the french, and drove them into the dimel, where many were drowned. the british cavalry had the greatest share in this victory. in fact, the marquis of granby led them on all occasions with such spirit and bravery, that ferdinand placed them continually in the post of danger, where of course they suffered more severely than the other troops.

notwithstanding these checks at emsdorf and warburg, the french obtained possession of g?ttingen and cassel. ferdinand attempted, but in vain, to dislodge them from g?ttingen, and the hereditary prince, attempting to surprise the marquis de castries at wesel, was repulsed with a loss of one thousand two hundred men at closter-campen, near that town, and was compelled to retreat. this closed the campaign, and the french took up their winter quarters at g?ttingen and cassel.

whilst these things were happening, and but two days before the mail arrived bringing the news of the defeat at closter-campen, george ii. died. he had, till within the last two years, enjoyed robust health. he had then a severe attack of gout, and from that time his eyes and hearing had failed. on the morning of the 25th of october he rose at his usual hour of six, drank his chocolate, inquired how the wind was, being anxious for the arrival of the mails, and then suddenly fell, uttered a groan, and expired. he was seventy-seven years of age.